Children8217;s day: candles and cake

If you are in America, and you see a bunch of balloons tied to a closed door, you can be sure that somebody8217;s birthday party ison inside. You can also be sure that there is a huge stock of sweets, cakes and pastries in the house.

On the other hand, the Chinese celebrate birthdays collectively. All the Children have a birthday on the same day and they are fed noodles that day. Noodles because they are long and everyone wishes that the children live long. Older Chinese people celebrate their birthdays only once in 10 years.

Many Asian and African tribes don8217;t celebrate their birthdays at all!Germany has its own Children8217;s Day like we have ours November 14. They call it Kinderfest. All children are given gifts and chocolates on that day.Birthdays in England are exciting not just for the birthday boy or girl but for all the other guests as well. The host fills a huge drum with sawdust and various gift items. After the party, each one has to pull out one item from the drum and then can take that home. Like a lucky dip. And, if your hand doesn8217;t touch anything you don8217;t get anything. And yet everyone enjoys the partythoroughly.

Birthday parties in Mexico are called Pinata parties. Relatives and friends work on paper and cardboard to make a huge animal. They fill the hollow animal with gift items, toys and chocolates. The animal is tied to the ceiling with a rope. The birthday girl or boy is then blindfolded and is given a stick to break the animal. When the person tries to break the animal, those gathered around keep moving it constantly. And when the animal is finally broken the birthday person is showered with chocolates and toys. Italians too celebrate their birthdays in a similar way. The only difference is that they call the party a Pignata party.

Birthday celebrations, in Sweden, begin before the birthday boy or girl wakes up. All the near and dear ones gather in the person8217;s bedroom with gifts in hand, which are presented as soon as he or she wakes up.

In the Netherlands, people decorate their houses with colourful cut-outs of animals and birds. Koreans stock various gift items on the table on a child8217;sfirst birthday. They believe that one can tell what the child will be in future from the item it first touches. The Japanese are gifted a kite on their 13th birthday, with their names written on it. When they start flying it, their relatives use a separate thread to tie knots on the kite8217;s thread. The birthday boy or girl then thanks them for every knot that symbolises a good wish.

The New Year8217;s Day, in Bhutan, is treated as the birthday of all its citizens. The Thai people don8217;t accept gifts on their birthdays; they give gifts instead. And the gift could be anything from a piece of cloth for a monk or simply freeing a bird from its cage!